186 



CONGRESS. (PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



during such alien occupation; and if no discrimi- 

 nating treatment of American citizens and their 

 trade be found to exist, or be hereafter developed, 

 the desire of this Government would appear to 

 be realized. 



In this relation, as showing the volume and 

 value of our exchanges with China and the pecul- 

 iarly favorable conditions which exist for their 

 expansion in the normal course of trade. I refer 

 to the communication addressed to the Speaker 

 of the House of Representatives by the Secretary 

 of the Treasury on the 14th of last June, with 

 its accompanying letter of the Secretary of State, 

 recommending an appropriation for a commis- 

 sion to study the commercial and industrial con- 

 ditions in tiie Chinese Empire and report as to 

 the opportunities for and obstacles to the en- 

 largement of markets in China for the raw prod- 

 ucts and manufactures of the United States. 

 Action was not taken thereon during the late 

 session. I cordially urge that the recommenda- 

 tion receive at your hands the consideration 

 which its importance and timeliness merit. 



Meanwhile there may be just ground for dis- 

 f|iiietude in view of the unrest and revival of the 

 old sentiment of opposition and prejudice to alien 

 people which pervades certain of the Chinese prov- 

 inces. As in the case of the attacks upon our 

 citizens in Szechuen and at Kutien in 1895, the 

 United States minister has been instructed to se- 

 cure the fullest measure of protection, both local 

 and imperial, for any menaced American inter- 

 ests, and to demand, *in case of lawless injury to 

 person or property, instant reparation appropri- 

 ate to the case. War ships have been stationed 

 at Tientsin for more ready observation of the 

 disorders which have invaded even the Chinese 

 capital, so as to be in a position to act should 

 need arise, while a guard of marines has been sent 

 to Pekin to afford the minister the same meas- 

 ure of authoritative protection as the representa- 

 tives of other nations have been constrained to 

 employ. 



Following close upon the rendition of the award 

 of my predecessor as arbitrator of the claim of 

 the Italian subject Cerruti against the republic 

 of Colombia, differences arose between the parties 

 to the arbitration in regard to the scope and ex- 

 tension of the award, of which certain articles 

 were contested by Colombia, while Italy claimed 

 their literal fulfillment. The award having been 

 made by the President of the United States, as 

 an act of friendly consideration, and with the sole 

 view to an impartial composition of the matter 

 in dispute, I could not but feel deep concern at 

 such a miscarriage, and, while unable to accept 

 the Colombian theory that I, in my official ca- 

 pacity, possessed continuing functions as arbi- 

 trator, with power to interpret or revise the terms 

 of the award, my best efforts were lent to bring 

 the parties to a harmonious agreement as to the 

 execution of its provisions. 



A naval demonstration by Italy resulted in an 

 engagement to pay the liabilities claimed upon 

 their ascertainment; but this apparent disposi- 

 tion of the controversy was followed by a rup- 

 ture of diplomatic intercourse between Colombia 

 and Italy, which still continues, although for- 

 tunately without acute symptoms having super- 

 vened. Notwithstanding this, efforts are reported 

 to be continuing for the ascertainment of Colom- 

 bia's contingent liability on account of Cerruti's 

 debts, under the fifth artic'e of the award. 



A claim of an American citizen against the 

 Dominican Republic for a public bridge over the 

 Ozama river, which has been in diplomatic con- 

 troversy for several years, has been settled by 



expert arbitration and an award in favor of the 

 claimant amounting to about $90,000. It, how- 

 ever, remains unpaid, despite urgent demands for 

 its settlement according to the terms of the com- 

 pact. 



There is now every prospect that the participa- 

 tion of the United States in the Universal Ex- 

 position to be held in Paris in 1900 will be on a 

 scale commensurate w r ith the advanced position 

 held by our products and industries in the world's 

 chief marts. 



The preliminary report of Mr. Moses P. Handy, 

 who, under the act approved July 19, 1897, was 

 appointed special commissioner, with a view to 

 securing all attainable information necessary to 

 a full and complete understanding by Congress 

 in regard to the participation of this Government 

 in the Paris Exposition, w y as laid before you by 

 my message of Dec. 6, 1897, and showed the large 

 opportunities opened to make known our national 

 progress in arts, science, and manufactures, as 

 well as the urgent need of immediate and ade- 

 quate provision to enable due advantage thereof 

 to be taken. Mr. Handy's death soon afterward 

 rendered it necessary for another to take up and 

 complete his unfinished work, and on Jan. 11 

 last Mr. Thomas W. Cridler, third Assistant Secre- 

 tary of State, was designated to fulfill that task. 

 His report was laid before you by my message 

 of June 14, 1898, with the gratifying result of 

 awakening renewed interest in the projected dis- 

 play. By a provision in the sundry civil appro- 

 priation act of July 1, 1898, a sum not to exceed 

 $050,000 was allotted for the organization of a 

 commission to care for the proper preparation 

 and installation of American exhibits, and for the 

 display of suitable exhibits by the several execu- 

 tive departments, particularly by the Department 

 of Agriculture, the Fish Commission, and the 

 Smithsonian Institution, in representation of the 

 Government of the United States. 



Pursuant to that enactment, I appointed Mr. 

 Ferdinand W. Peck, of Chicago, commissioner 

 general, with an assistant commissioner general 

 and a secretary. Mr. Peck at once proceeded to 

 Paris, where his success in enlarging the scope 

 and variety of the United States exhibit has been 

 most gratifying. Notwithstanding the compara- 

 tively limited area of the exposition site less 

 than one half that of the World s Fair at Chicago 

 the space assigned to the United States has 

 been increased from the absolute allotment of 

 157,403 square feet reported by Mr. Handy to 

 some 202,000 square feet, with corresponding aug- 

 mentation of the field for a truly characteristic 

 representation of the various important branches 

 of our country's development. Mr. Peck's report 

 will be laid before you. In my judgment its 

 recommendations will call for your early con- 

 sideration, especially as regards an increase of the 

 appropriation to at"least $1,000,000 in all, so that 

 not only may the assigned space be fully taken 

 up by the best possible exhibits in every class, 

 but the preparation and installation ..be on so 

 perfect a scale as to rank among the first in that 

 unparalleled competition of artistic and inventive 

 production, and thus counterbalance the disad- 

 vantage with which we start as compared with 

 other countries whose appropriations are on a 

 more generous scale and whose preparations are 

 in a state of much greater forwardness than our 

 own. 



Where our artisans have the admitted capacity 

 to excel, where our inventive genius has initiated 

 many of the grandest discoveries of these later 

 days of the century, and where the native re- 

 sources of our land are as limitless as they are 



